Privacy Coins Under Serious Pressure in Japan

20 06 2018 / 11:09

Japan is to release severe bans on privacy coins. Some coins have already been removed from exchanges.

Earlier this year there were reports that 16 cryptocurrency exchanges were to create Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) in the country. Decision was made after series of Coincheck hacks. When it happened, the Japanese Financial Services Association (FSA) paid much of its attention on the cryptocurrency market. The 16 companies’ aim wanted to organize autonomous instance which operation is based on comprehensive rules followed closely by its insiders.

Recently, the JVCEA released information about their base measures they want to apply regarding the cryptocurrency market. Report presented by Nikkei reveals that, in the first place, the association aims to cease insider trading and narrow down the number of privacy coins on the market.

The organization defines the term “insider trading” by describing a situation when an exchange is aware that some specific coin would get into its list and shares such information only with a limited circle of partners letting them to collect the coin up front to capitalize on it.

Another issue are privacy coins due to their potential applications in money laundering. Exchanges Monero, Zcash and DASH have already been removed from Coincheck’s listing. Possibly it happened due to influence of Japanese government as they have major concerns in relation to cryptocurrencies accenting untraceability and anonymity.

It was also reported that JVCEA will block listing of new privacy coins as part of anti-money laundering policy. Hence, it is possible that coins XMR, ZEC and DASH will be removed from popular exchanges authorized in Japan.

While crypto is relatively new to this world, different countries apply different strategies to regulate this market. Earlier this year New York’s NYDFS, known to employ very straight regulations pertaining to cryptocurrency, approved listing of Zcash by Gemini, although the coin is one of the most popular privacy cryptos in the world.